Student studies abroad in Costa Rica

Monday, Feb 11, 2008

Oklahoma Christian University student Luke Roe is spending the semester studying abroad in San Jose, Costa Rica through a program with the CCCU. Roe, a junior Spanish major from Franklin, TN, sends this excerpt from his journal:

After we left the coffee plantation we drove through some of the most beautiful rain-forest landscapes. I was sitting on the bus with a faculty member from the school who is a biologist, and she filled me in on every type of plant we passed. It’s incredibly incomprehensible the diversity that a Costa Rican road side has to offer. On our journey away from city life, we began to see more and more diverse flora and fauna. For the first time in my life I was able to witness the slow thoughtful movements of a sloth, see a bird creating its hanging nest and watch a troop of monkeys pick fruit off a tree for their lunch.

We stopped at a small roadside restaurant for lunch and quickly we saw the difference in foods from the bustling city to the Caribbean influence. We ate spicy meals, rice with coconut and other foods that were very foreign to me. At lunch I had an amazing talk with some of the other students traveling with me about religion and missions work and other things that have been burning holes in my mind the past few days.

As we wove through the mountains with full stomachs and a warm sun shining down on our faces I began to forget that I missed home so much and realize that God was truly showing me something out of this world.